Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1820-2004 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
99 boxes
Scope and content
Papers of the British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles, (BCRPM), 1820-2004 including press releases, copies of newspaper cuttings and correspondence chiefly between Eleni Cubitt and Anthi Poulos Jones, Chairman and General Counsel for the Committee on the Parthenon. Reports, newsletters and correspondence to government officials seeking support, the latter mainly from David Hill, Director of International Affairs for the Australian Committee for the Restoration of the Parthenon Marbles. Photocopy of Report from the Select Committee on 'The Earl of Elgin's collection of Sculptured Marbles' , Mar 1816. Correspondence and reports from Hansard relating to early day motions concerning the Marbles and brief lists of debates on the Marbles in Commons and Lords, 1816-1999. Correspondence and data relating to surveys of MPs on their support for the return of the Marbles, 1984 and 2001. Press releases, correspondence, reports and proceedings relating to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on 'Cultural Property: Return and Illicit Trade.' Correspondence, press releases and press cuttings relating to 'Parthenon 2004', campaigning for the British Government to agree for the temporary return and display of the Marbles to Greece in time for the 2004 Olympics. Correspondence, exhibition texts, list of photographs, etc, relating to the touring exhibition 'Stones of No Value, Monuments of the Gods', 1998-1999. Papers and reports relating to meetings of the UNESCO 'Intergovernmental Committee for promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation', 1980-2003. Papers, correspondence and newspaper articles relating to publication of book by William St Clair, Lord Elgin and the Marbles , particularly on the controversy surrounding the restoration of the Marbles by the British Museum which removed their original surface finish, 1998-2001. Publications and press cuttings on the Parthenon marbles, 1998-2003. Photographs, chiefly of BCRPM exhibitions. British Museum study on cleaning the Marbles, 1932. Papers relating to exhibitions and other BCRPM publicity and financial papers including accounts, 1993-2001.
System of arrangement
Awaiting arrangement.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
The British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles, (BCRPM) was founded following the UNESCO International Conference of Ministers of Culture in Mexico, Aug 1982, when Melina Mercouri appealed for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Athens. The idea to set up a British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles came from architect James Cubitt. The Committee was set up in 1983 under the chairmanship of Robert Browning, Emeritus Professor of Greek at the University of London. Eleni Cubitt, film producer and wife of James Cubitt (who died shortly after the Committee was established) became, and continues to be, the Secretary. The aims of the Committee are as follows:
'To secure the restitution of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece in accordance with the resolution of the UNESCO Conference of Ministers of Culture held in Mexico on 4 August 1982. To this end - we intend to present the case as fully as possible to the British public and to bring the most effective pressure on the Trustees of the British Museum and the British Government.'
Repository
Custodial history
Received Sep 2007, further accession 2010
Conditions governing access
Files containing personal data are closed for 80 years and sensitive personal data for 100 years from the date of the most recent document in the file.
Administrative records are generally closed for 20 years except for published material and some committee and other minutes.
Where open, access is subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied from open material for research purposes only.
Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archives.
Language of material
- English
- Greek
- Italian
Script of material
Language and script notes
English, Greek, some Italian.
Finding aids
This collection level description.
Alternative identifier(s)
Place access points
People and Organisations
- Browning, Robert, 1914-1997, Professor of Greek (Subject)
- Bruce, Thomas, 1766-1841, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine (Subject)
- Cubitt, Eleni, film producer, Secretary of the British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles (Subject)
- Cubitt, James, 1914-1983, architect (Subject)
- Hill, David, Director of International Affairs for the Australian Committee for the Restoration of the Parthenon Marbles (Subject)
- Poulos Jones, Anthi, Chairman and General Counsel for the Committee on the Parthenon (Subject)
- St Clair, William, author (Subject)
- British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles (Subject)
- British Museum (Subject)
- House of Commons (Subject)
- House of Lords (Subject)
- UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Subject)
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.
Script(s)
Archivist's note
Entry compiled by Sarah Drewery.